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Jonathan Trott could hardly have asked for a more fitting snapshot of his near-four-year spell in charge than Afghanistan’s narrow defeat to South Africa in Ahmedabad. A match that contained brilliance, belief, hope and hurt now leaves their Super Eight prospects resting on other results. Win the final two group games and pray – that is the equation.
“I think that was a great snapshot,” Trott admitted afterwards. He quickly batted away questions about his own future. “I’d prefer to talk about it (his time in charge) when it’s done than talk about it now. We’ve still got two important games and I respect the side and the job, but also the two games we’ve got coming up are important as well. I don’t think it’s time to start talking about when I’m not in the position when I am still in the position. I’d like to make sure I get that right and that we get it right. Hopefully this group can surprise a few people and we get a few losses somewhere along the line and we get ourselves back in. We’ve got to stay positive.”
The mood in the dressing-room was understandably lower. Opener Ibrahim Zadran felt they had “lost the chance to qualify to the next round,” and are “disappointed.” Trott sees it differently – part cheer-leader, part analyst. “We’ve got some amazing players and it’s just really devastating for the guys, after a tough loss a few days ago against New Zealand and now against South Africa in a tough group as well,” he said.
Afghanistan had dragged the contest into a second Super Over thanks largely to Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The wicketkeeper-batter’s 80 off 48 balls prompted Trott to call it “the best innings I’ve seen him play,” a sizeable compliment considering the youngster’s growing catalogue of white-ball highlights.
“He is a really great and talented cricketer. The innings as we saw today, I think he should play like that more often if I’m honest, with the amount of talent that he has and the physique and the sporting ability and natural hand-eye coordination,” Trott explained. “It’s just about going forward now with him and just being able to process this. It’ll be a good challenge for him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s quite an animated character. I’m just trying to get him to be a little bit more consistent in everything that he does. We all saw today the types of innings that he can play, and th…”
The head coach’s voice tailed off, possibly reflecting both pride and frustration. Afghanistan had done plenty right: Fazalhaq Farooqi’s early in-swing removed Quinton de Kock, Rashid Khan tied South Africa down through the middle, and the fielding – so often a barometer of Afghan energy – stayed sharp. Yet David Miller’s clean strikes in the Super Over turned the match on its head, exposing Afghanistan’s lingering issue: closing tight games against established sides.
“These guys are never shy of rising up against the challenges that they face throughout their lives on and off the field. So today they should be very proud and obviously these types of losses sometimes can hurt and sting for a while but I think it’s important we look at those areas that we did really well in, but also areas that we could improve and things we could have done better,” Trott noted.
The route to the Super Eight is now narrow. Afghanistan must beat Sri Lanka in Kolkata and then Bangladesh in Delhi, ideally by healthy margins to safeguard net run-rate. They also need South Africa to slip up. It is a tall order, though not implausible – this side did, after all, reach the 2024 semi-finals when the odds were similarly stacked.
From here Trott’s task is equal parts tactical and emotional. He must rally a team bruised by consecutive defeats while fine-tuning late-innings bowling plans and middle-order stability. Mini-targets – powerplay wickets, boundary prevention in overs 16-20 – are likely to dominate training sessions.
For all the talk of permutations, Trott kept returning to one theme: belief. It is the word he has leaned on since taking the job. Belief in talent – Gurbaz, Rashid, Noor Ahmad. Belief in progress – better fielding, smarter batting, tidier death overs. Whether that faith is repaid in the coming week may decide both Afghanistan’s tournament and Trott’s coaching legacy.
